


superheroes and sidekicks

by kalebale



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Future Fic, I spent the last three hours on this instead of on my final paper, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23942671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalebale/pseuds/kalebale
Summary: In which Mac struggles with being a big brother, and Jake talks about what it means to be a sidekick.//(or basically a one-shot I wrote in two hours instead of writing my final paper that's due in 24 hours)
Relationships: Jake Peralta & Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 11
Kudos: 101





	superheroes and sidekicks

**Author's Note:**

> I kept thinking that "Mac Attack" was a cute nickname for Mac and all this was born. So enjoy the one-shot I wrote super quick tonight instead of writing the final paper I have due in 24 hours.

“Come on, Auntie RoRo!” Mac practically dragged his aunt down the hallway with all the might of a four year old. “Mommy and Daddy are waiting!”

Rosa smirked, not rushing with Mac and remembering Jake saying that there was no rush for them to get here. “We can’t run in hospitals, dude.”

“Says who?” He eventually stopped in his tracks to face Rosa. She watched his eyebrows furrow through his mop of curls. His nose scrunched up, wanting to see what weird answer his tía would pull out to fool him this time.

“The doctors and nurses, that’s who,” She retorted before ruffling his head. Standing up, Rosa held out her hand for him. He folded his arms and looked up to the ceiling, eyes closed.

“What now, Mac?”

“I’m a big kid. I don’t have to hold your hand.”

She rolled her eyes. There was no doubt that this kid was Jake’s, echoing every weird quirk and defiance of his father. Amy always said she was raising another Jake, despite her best efforts to sprinkle some orderly Santiago in him. They all hoped that this next baby would live up a bit more to the Santiago part of their surname. But in Amy’s words, they would love them no matter what.

“I guess someone doesn’t want to see their new baby brother or sister...” Rosa shrugged and turned around, beginning her slow walk to the exit.

Mac, noticing that this could mean no new little brother, ran back to his aunt. His hand grabbed on while pulling her back. “No! I wanna see him! I wanna see my brother!”

“You’re gonna listen then?”

“Yes, Auntie RoRo, I promise,” He held up his opposite pinky, “Pinky promise.”

“And you know pinky promises are serious right?”

“Yes ma’am!” Mac gave a wide toothy smile, one Rosa couldn’t resist smiling back at.

Her pinky locked with his, sealing the promise with their thumbs reaching up to touch each other. “And you promise you’re gonna be the best big brother ever?”

“Double pinky promise!”

“Even if your mom has a little sister and not a little brother.”

He bit his lip. “Maybe...”

“Mac...”

“But Auntie RoRo, girls are **_gross_ **! Jack from school says they have cooties!”

“I’m a girl. Does that mean I have cooties?” She raised her eyebrows at his statement. “I guess that means I’m gross too huh?”

“Nooo!” Mac giggled as Rosa led them down the hallway towards Amy’s room. “You’re Auntie RoRo. You can’t have cooties. You’re cool.”

“What does that mean?” She laughed.

Skipping now, Mac shrugged. “I dunno. Daddy just says you’re cool.”

It wasn’t long before the pair were outside Amy’s door. Rosa looked down at Mac, dawned in the light blue shirt saying “big brother” in white letters. She passed him the red and white superhero cape. Before leaving the apartment to go to the hospital with Rosa, he picked out a cape to wear and a spare for his newest sibling, convinced that the newest addition would be his little brother.

This time around, Amy and Jake decided to keep the gender a surprise for the rest of the world. Not even the littlest member of their family knew if they would get a little brother or sister. He was alongside the rest of the world, on the edge of his seat to find out what the baby would be. Mac’s heart was always set on the baby being a boy though, planning all of the superhero games they would play, who would be the hero and the sidekick, and who would get which toy cars.

“You ready to see them, Mac? Once we go through this door, you’re gonna officially be a big brother.”

The same toothy grin returned while he nodded excessively. “Yes! Yes! Let me in!”

Rosa chuckled before cracking the door open to greet the parents first. “You guys have a little visitor, if you’re ready?”

Amy nodded, her biggest smile beaming, as Jake stood in front of the bassinet to hide the little one. “Let him loose, Auntie RoRo.”

She opened the door wide open as Mac walked in, soon sprinting upon seeing his mom on the bed. “Mommy!”

“Mac Attack!” Pulling him into her arms, Amy smothered him with kisses, holding her first baby tight. Their embrace soon broke as she just took in every detail of her oldest. He wasn’t a baby anymore. He was now a protective big brother, grown up in more ways than one.

His eyes darted around before landing on Jake. You could see him begin to slow down and be gentle as he pointed to the thing behind his dad. “Is that the baby?”

“Yeah, you want to hold them?” She whispered back at his soft response. He leaned back against Amy as Jake walked over with the baby, bouncing them in his arms.

Looking down at the baby and back up at Mac and Amy, Jake’s eyes filled with love for this little family he and his wife created over the last four years. Neither of them thought this was possible when they first started trying. He will never forget Amy’s heartbreaking words about being bad at making babies, but he always knew that wasn’t the case. There were two pieces of beautiful proof that she was far from bad at making babies. 

After all, their kids were liquid fire in every single way possible.

Jake joined them on the bed, snuggling into Amy’s side and adjusting the baby to rest in his son’s arms. “Mac, meet your baby sister, Lucy.”

“Sister?!” Mac frowned, looking back at both of his parents in disgust. “I didn’t want a sister! I wanted a brother!”

“Well, this is what we have, baby. Lucy’s going to come live with us.” Amy tried to mend the situation. Though this was the last thing she wanted to deal with today, she knew that there was no other option but to talk to Mac.

“No! I don’t want her! I want a brother!” Mac raised his voice, starting to wake up the sleeping baby as Jake pulled back their baby girl from him.

“Mac, inside voice. We’re at the--”

“NO!” His yells slowly turned into a full-on tantrum. Red spread across his face while he clenched his fists. “NO! NO! NO! I don’t want her!”

This was the turning point for the baby too. Lucy joined in her brother’s wails, trying to get out of the swaddle. Jake then stood up, giving a helpless look to his wife as she tried to console their son with a hug.

He tried to give Lucy a binky in hopes that would temporarily mend the situation. But to his dismay, she fought it. Jake’s eyes met Amy’s, both echoing the same sense of helplessness. He added a sigh while bouncing the screaming baby. “Well, this could’ve gone a lot worse.”

* * *

“Mommy, make Lu stop crying.” Mac spoke up from his respective place at the dining table as he colored a picture for his Grandpa Raymond.

It had only been a week since they brought Lucy home. And all four of them agreed that it felt more like a month than a week. Mac continued to refuse to believe that Lucy was really his sister, and tried on multiple occasions to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Amy gave a deep sigh from the kitchen nook, her daughter’s body against her shoulder and screaming. “Mac--”

“Oh, I forgot the magic word! Mommy, **_please_ ** make Lulu stop crying.” He smiled in hopes that the magic word would do its job and the baby would stop.

Despite her exhaustion, she still managed to laugh at her son’s antics. “I wish it would work that way... Buddy, could you go to my room and get her binky from the bassinet?”

“Binkies don’t belong in this house. You said so.” He went back to coloring, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

Amy sighed before sitting down at the table with him and adjusting Lucy into a more comfortable position. “Mac, I don’t want to play games today. Please be my big helper and go grab your sister’s binky.”

“No, I wanna color.” Mac whined as his focus remained on the picture.

“McClane Jacob, please just listen.” Her hand reached over and was put on top of his picture in an attempt to gain his full attention. There were no words to describe how tired and exhausted she was. And having Mac acting up like this was not helping her case.

“No!”

“Mac,” Amy’s finger pulled his chin up so her eyes met his. “I’m going to give you two choices. We can either listen and do what Mommy asked, or we can go in time-out. What would you like to do?”

He quickly turned his face away with a scowl spread across it. “I don’t wanna listen. I wanna color.”

“So I guess we’re gonna do time-out then, huh?” No response came from her son, causing Amy to stand up and put the baby down in her swing in the living room. “Mac, you have until the count of three to stop coloring before we’re gonna have a talk with Daddy when he gets home from work.”

Mac kept silent and focused. Amy sighed and held up her pointer finger.

“Mac, one.”

Nothing. She added a finger.

“Two.”

“But Mommy--”

“Two and a half.” Amy held off on saying three, believing her son could make a good choice in just seconds.

Watching her gut instinct become reality, Mac got off the seat and marched down to Jake and Amy’s room. He returned moments later with the matte pink binky before throwing it across the room with eyes full of angry tears.

She furrowed her eyebrows before picking up the binky and walking over to pick her son up. “McClane, that was not a good choice. I think you need to go in time-out for a little bit.”

“No!” He yelled, battling to be louder than his screaming baby sister. “I want Daddy!”

It would be 30 minutes later when Jake walked through the door to find a crying Amy sitting cross-legged on the couch with a sleeping Lucy in her lap. He hated that she had to be left alone with the two kids. She was left on the frontlines for too many hours as she battled both kids to sleep, to eat, to stop crying, and much more. Amy was definitely a superhero but now breaking under the pressure of it all.

“Rough day?” He hung up his messenger bag before inching towards the couch to join his wife.

She took a deep breath, leaning into his side and resting her head on his shoulder. Jake was her rock in moments like this. When she was at her end and not sure what to do next, he swooped in and brought peace. Not one that solved everything, making her kids happy, perfect, not-always-crying angels, but bringing hope to a situation that seemed so dark.

“Way too rough.” A sniffle escaped her nose. “Lu just won’t stop crying and Mac refuses to help and... I just suck at this.”

“No, don’t say that.” His head rested against hers. “It was just one bad day. One bad day doesn’t mean you suck at this.”

Both sat in the silence, soaking in the momentary quiet as their newborn slept. They allowed the emotions to simply be. He wanted her to be able to feel this, but wanted her to also know that she wasn’t doing this all alone. She just wanted him to be her rock at that moment. He was her anchor in every storm, keeping her stable and in place despite what might come next.

“What can I do to help you?” He finally broke the silence.

“Can you check on Mac?” She took a deep breath. “He wasn’t being helpful earlier. Threw Lu’s binky across the room.”

“I can definitely do that.” Jake pressed a long kiss to her forehead before standing up. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Jake later knocked at Mac’s bedroom door, leaning against the wall beside it’s frame. “Mac Attack, can I come in?”

“Yeah...” He heard the quiet response and opened the door to find a clean room and his son curled up on his big boy bed. “You’re room’s really clean, bud. Mommy would be really proud.”

Mac looked up, nodding. “Mommy got mad at me when you were at work.”

Jake joined him on the bed while pulling him into his lap. “Yeah, she told me about that. What happened?”

“I wanted to color and she wanted me to grab the baby’s binky. But I wanted to color so I didn’t. And then she counted to three and I got scared so I got it.”

“Then?”

“I threw it at her.”

The dad sighed, watching Mac play with the car in his lap. “Why did you throw it?”

Mac only shrugged.

“Were you mad?”

“Yeah..” Mac whispered. “I just wanted to color with Mommy. But she was too busy with the baby.”

Jake nodded, kissing the top of his son’s head and turning him to face him. “Mac, bud, do you wanna know a secret?”

He watched Mac’s eyes widen while nodding. “Yeah! Tell me!”

“But you gotta keep it a secret. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Looking around, Jake leaned in to be just in earshot of Mac. “Your mommy is a superhero.”

“No, she isn’t! Mommy’s just Mommy!”

“How do you know?”

“Because superhero’s wear capes and go and protect the world from bad guys! Mommy doesn’t do that anymore. She just holds Lulu all day.”

“You sure? Because I’ve seen Mommy do some really cool things.”

“Like what?” Mac crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” Jake looked up at the ceiling, counting off all the things that make his wife a superhero. “Mommy wakes up super early to make all of us breakfast, she washes our clothes, and she takes really good care of you and Lucy when I’m at work.”

Mac cocked his head, questioning his father, “Superheroes do that too?”

“Of course! Mommy kicks bad guys’ butts but she also has to keep you and Lucy safe and happy.” Jake paused, “But here’s the thing. Superheroes need sidekicks, right? Well, Mommy needs a sidekick. Someone that is a big kid, that can help Mommy when she needs it, that can help keep all the bad guys away--”

“I can do that!” Mac hollered, “I’m a big kid! I have a cape!”

He laughed at Mac’s cape comment before continuing, “But sidekicks are always there to help everyone, even their baby sisters. You still up for the job?”

His son nodded with the widest grin. “I can do it! I can be Mommy’s sidekick!”

“I think you can too,” Jake looked at his son, full of pride. “But I need you to promise me one more thing, Mac.”

“What?”

“That whenever you want me or Mommy to hang out with you, you use your words and tell us what you want. No more throwing things and being mad without telling us. Okay?”

Mac sighed, nodding. Jake knew that this wouldn’t solve anything, but it would be a start for all of them. Hopefully, it would make things easier for Amy to have someone ready to help. Hopefully, it would help Mac realize Lucy wasn’t all that bad. Hopefully, this would be the change that would make everything right.

* * *

Folding the last blanket from the laundry basket, Amy looked up at the clock for the time. 3:37. Lucy was still peacefully sleeping after being put down for a nap. Jake was scheduled to be home in just 23 minutes. And Mac--

Where was Mac?

“Mac Attack?” She called out, hoping for a response from his room down the hall. The silence filled for a moment before she tried again. “Mac?”

“Shh!”

Her eyebrow rose as the sound came from her room. The only one in there should be the baby but that little voice resonated in there as well.

She tiptoed down to her and Jake’s room, peaking in to find a scene that warmed her heart. There on the bed sat Mac with her notepad and his own crayon, right beside the bassinet with the sleeping Lucy. His hand scribbled across the page as to fill in the gaps he created with color.

“What are you up to, bud?” Amy joined him on the bed, peering at his artwork.

“I’m just watching Lulu for you.” Mac finished his scribble while looking over at Lucy and then Amy. “You needed a break. Superheroes need breaks sometimes.”

After a quick chuckle, Amy smiled. For weeks, they were sure that Mac hated Lucy and would not relent until the two were older and out of the house. But this, this moment right here, screamed change. A change that Amy couldn’t put her finger on.

“Thank you, sidekick.” She leaned down to press a kiss to his unruly curls. “You’re such a good big brother.”

“I know,” Mac shrugged before stealing one more glance at his sister. He soon ripped his picture off the notepad and picked up a new crayon. “Want to color with me, Mommy?”

“I would love to.” She accepted the crayon but couldn’t take her curious eyes off his first picture. “What were you drawing before I came in?”

“My baby sister. You and Daddy were right. She isn’t that bad.”

  
  
  



End file.
